@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:
TODAY
Saturday Math Facts
Born rich + no college > born poor + college = inequity Bad educational reform policies + billions of $$$ > credible education policies + no $$$ = accountability era in US education
YESTERDAY
Cashing in on Kids Report Exposes ALEC
The Center for Media and Democracy has a new report out on ALEC (Good beach reading) Despite widespread public opposition to the education privatization agenda, at least 139 bills or state budget provisions reflecting American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) education bills have been introduced in 43 states and the District of Columbia in just the […]
So the Common Core created top-notch lessons?
I see today AFT president Randi Weingarten was promoting the Common Core via an interview with an Ohio NPR station back in May. Once again the Common Core cheerleaders falsely imply that these new standards have invented critical thinking and in-depth lessons. I would expect this type of propaganda from the corporate reformers not from […]
Harumph! Kids These Days! On Changing Our Tone About Young People
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” - Nelson Mandela A lot has been said in the media lately about the degeneration of our youth and their seeming lack of moral character, their resulting destructive behavior, and their defiance. I, personally, was involved […]
Open Letter to Congress on ESEA Reauthorization
To Members of the 113th Congress: I write to express my concerns regarding the various versions of the new ESEA now circulating in Washington, all of which appear to have enough in common to be combined, perhaps, under a more fitting title. Something like The Corporate Foundation and Education Industry Welfare Act of 2013. All […]
Why NCTQ Wants to Get Rid of Schools of Education
A social studies lesson on the business of education from Alan Singer, Hofstra Uniersity: They think they found the solution to fix American schools and it is really very simple: get rid of schools of education because they fail to adequately train teachers. The NCTQ posted a list of the advisory committee for its study on […]
JUL 18
Fordham Institute’s Newsletter: Gadfly or Dung Beetle?
We called them tumble bugs when I was a kid down South. Dung beetles live in, by, and for manure. They carefully roll it into balls, place it underground, and lay their eggs in it. This provides a food source for their larvae, or as the case with Fordham’s busy beetles, for Americans seeking information […]
On Writing Letters to Congress about ESEA
I received a very genuine email appeal from a fellow humane human engaged in the same struggle to create public schools controlled by the public. Here is part of it: As you know, ESEA will soon come before the house floor for amendment. Would you be willing to encourage colleagues to call their representatives and […]
How the Gates Foundation Is Undergirding the College Caste System
The Chronicle of Higher Ed has an explosive series of articles on the influence on higher education by vulture philanthropy and corporate foundations. Taking advantage of recent research by Hall and Thomas, CHE goes in depth to uncover a sewer of self-serving corruption, arrogant and ignorant policymaking, anti-democratic social steering, and a U. S. Department […]
The Allure of Order Previews the Failure of Common Core
The chapter that taught me the most in The Allure of Order was the 1970s and the story of how state governments grew in importance. I was most struck, however, by Mehta’s account of Maryland’s accountability-based reform, Maryland Student Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), in the 1990s. It was an effort to combine accountability with a […]
Check out our latest episode on #TFA in Minnesota
Here’s our latest episode of At the Chalk Face with two graduate students from the University of Minnesota who are resisting their institution’s potential deal with TFA. I’m still a little annoyed by the end of this episode. I decided to use Zingaya to run the show instead of Skype, and it cut us off. […]
There may be one way our public schools are failing. #racism
I have heard student teachers and veterans wonder why they should teach about diversity or multicultural values if they and their students are white. Or, in other instances, appreciation and understanding of cultural diversity is viewed as an add-on or supplement, rarely the underlying goal of education. Still, in more instances, educators simply avoid discussions […]
JUL 17
My legacy of dunces #highered
I am on the edge of leaving higher education. It chewed me up and spit me out. Or was it vice versa? I can’t remember. But it doesn’t matter. Higher education, public institutions especially and teacher preparation more specifically, is not interested in saving itself. Or, it is perfectly willing to offer up an arm […]
Any Bad-Ass Teachers Out There Want to Make Some Noise July 25?
Matt Taibbi described the Wall Street investment bank, Goldman Sachs, as ”a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” On July 25, some of Goldman’s fellow squid, along with another handful of New York City’s 70 billionaires and a few dozen of […]
Peace Education and the #commoncore. Friends?
I was invited to speak on a panel at a Peace education summit at American University’s School of International Service. Along with two panelists from the Office of the State Superintendent of DC, who spoke about recent anti-bullying legislation, my role was to give a broader perspective on the Common Core State Standards. In order […]
The “Best and the Brightest” Point the Way Toward Test-Driven Reform
It is hard to tell which is more revealing. Is it more shocking that 21st century school reform has degenerated into an un-funny knock-off of “Cheaper by the Dozen,” the spoof of the embarrassing scientific management policy known as “Taylorism?” Or is it more disturbing that the essence of accountability-driven reform is illuminated by “The […]
Class Size Matters Action Alert On Esea
No Excuses! Call your representatives.The message is here and it’s clear, concise andstrong. Action Alert Dear folks: For the first time in 12 years, a bill is expected to come to the floor of Congress to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as NCLB. The Student Success Act, introduced by Rep. Kline, […]
PAA DEMANDS End to High Stakes Testing and Privatization
***For Immediate Release*** July 17, 2013 Contacts Dora Taylor, (Seattle) President, PAA -206-841-9613 Pamela Grundy (Charlotte) -704-806-0410 Julie Woestehoff (Chicago) – 773-715-3989 It’s time for lawmakers to listen to parents! National parent group reaches out to Congress on ESEA, demanding less testing and privatization and more proven, effective reforms As the U.S. House […]
“Disillusioned with Teach For America”
“It is difficult to identify exactly when I started to get disillusioned with Teach For America,” explains Wendy Heller Chovnick, a former Teach for America corp member and manager. ”I would say that it was a three-year long process that occurred while I was on staff.” What prompted her change of mind? Chovnick details how her […]
JUL 16
The Mismeasure of Education
I know it is shameless self-promotion, and yet is not about me or us. To summarize Horace Mann: agitate, agitate, agitate, but always for a good cause. My co-author, Denise Wilburn and I are very proud to get this out at this point in time, and we are equally humbled by the advance reviews […]
Jal Mehta’s The Allure of Order Explains the Root Cause of Déjà vu, All Over Again
I have an intellectual understanding of how the contemporary “reform” movement propelled schools to leap into the early 20th century. But, I’ve never really grasped why 21st century accountability hawks sought to turn schools into a modern-day version of the Model T assembly line. After reading Jal Mehta’s The Allure of Order, I understand. Mehta […]
Great Op-Ed on the Common Opposition to Common Corp Standards
By Rob Jenkins at the Newton Citizen in Newton County, GA: Any time conservatives and liberals in this country agree on anything, it’s time to stop the presses, glance up to see if pigs happen to be zooming by overhead, and check the temperature in you-know-where. It may also be time to pay attention. One […]
JUL 15
Teacher Preparation and the Bottom Line: Dear College and University Leaders.
Dear College and University Presidents, Chancellors, and CEOs, Please do some simple calculations for me. How much revenue does student enrollment generate? How many of these students are enrolled in some kind of teacher-credentialing program? How much revenue do these programs generate? Go ahead. Do it. Take a few minutes of your valuable time and […]
Business, marketing, branding, no integrity whatsoever #khanacademy
Over at Think Progress, there’s a post on an absurd budget calculator sponsored by McDonald’s and Visa to help hardworking minimum wage workers with financial literacy. A worthwhile cause, no doubt. As you can see in the image below, the sample provided helpfully includes space to budget income for your second job, because a McJob […]
NYTimes Editorial Board Dancing the CorpEd Soft Shoe
Clarence Thomas is one of those exceptional black men who climbed to the top in his field and then pulled up the ladder behind him. As a representative of the U. S. Supreme Court’s tokenism, Thomas reliably parrots the white conservative justices who, otherwise, would view him with the same mixture of fear and disdain […]
Consequences of the Business Model of Education
Ever wonder what it would look like if business leaders and profiteers got a hold of education? Welcome to the new normal. Another consequence of the high stakes testing, competitive, winner take all game being played out in public schools across the country is having a far deeper impact on society that can’t be measured […]
Collaborationist Responds to Posts on TURNcoats
There is a cancer inside AFT and NEA is The Union Reform Network (TURN). I have posted previously on this and one of TURN’s members, Jimmy , had this response to TURN (Teachers Union Reform Network): Agents and Collaborators: In the ed reform debates of the day, what we need most are intelligent arguments that show […]
Contention is so high in Chicago, you apparently have to apply to even sit in a public meeting
Something seems very wrong that you have to be approved to sit in on a public meeting. What is the Board trying to hide?
Pic of a Pearson edpsych text. Is this a problem? I think it is.
I saw this posted, a quick grab of a table from an educational psychology text. Not an ELL or linguistics or language arts texts. Educational psychology. Is it me, or is standard English being pitted against the variations spoken by persons of color? I mean, are all African Americans and Hispanics the same? Are all […]
JUL 14
This, not this: On our feet, to the street
Let’s do this. For example, this is a powerful image of a San Francisco protest on behalf of Trayvon Martin. Unbelievable. Not to diminish the necessity of this outrage, but if only we could have such momentum on issues within education. Amazing. Now, in contrast, let us not waste our time with this: asinine debates […]
How the Common Core is Being Sold
There’s nothing like a small town newspaper for a glimpse into how the Common Core Standards and tests are being sold to a trusting public. This is how the Common Core is being marketed in Palmyra PA. “You are not going to see test prep in our classrooms,” Brown says. Instead, you’ll see kids getting […]
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Global reforms are just that. Global. The same damage is being inflicted worldwide to schools in large and small communities, causing distress and doing nothing to improve education. Often quite the opposite. This is Cedar, a small community in Canada. I only heard about Cedar because my gorgeous friend James lives there. James isn’t a […]
Racism Built into the System to Mask Racism
Lisa Wade explains about stand your ground laws: It’s simple: stand your ground laws increase the chances that a homicide will be considered justifiable because it gives the jurors more leeway to give defendants the benefit of the doubt. But, jurors will likely give that benefit of the doubt to certain kinds of defendants and […]
I am happy to see we are not eschewing the issue of #nojustice
Other authors beat me to it. I’m happy to see that. I am one of six founders of United Opt Out National and, like all well-mannered activist groups in the 21st century, we have a Facebook presence. We have done a great job over the years avoiding the sidetracking of discussions. Like all new groups […]
Trayvon Martin Convicted: Sentence to Run Concurrent with Eternity
If this case teaches anything, it is that the high crime of involuntary racism regularly has more insidious and corrosive effects than the premeditated variety. There was the 1) tepid prosecution by unprepared and inattentive prosecutors; 2) a defense that was allowed highly-irregular concessions to make its case; 3) an investigative team friendly to gun-toting […]
Social Justice?
“The law is meant to be my servant and not my master, still less my torturer and my murderer.” — James Baldwin. The Nation (July 11, 1966) “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” — Martin Luther King Jr. Letter From Birmingham City Jail Blinded by the Stereotype Spotlight “The Poor Are Too Free”?: Unlocking […]
JUL 13
Diane Ravitch’s Defense of Randi Weingarten is Irrelevant
More than 253 comments on Diane Ravitch’s blog post on Randi Weingarten. I am glad they are good friends, but Randi Weingarten has not been EFFECTIVE in stopping the assault on teachers through canned, bubble in test based curriculum with high stakes attached. High stakes testing is wrong and needs to go, period. Just like Hillary […]
Educators in OK developing their own #commoncore assessments
This, from State Impact Indiana: …Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi estimated the state can save at least $2 million a year if it develops its own test rather than go with the PARCC exam. This is how it all works. States, as mandated by the USDE, with influence from the private sector, require […]
Kids Count on Public Education, Not Grit or “No Excuses” | the becoming radical
Kids Count on Public Education, Not Grit or “No Excuses” | the becoming radical.